Yet another question about sports shooting

Hi all,

First let me suck up and say what a great help this group has been so
far...

I purchased a Canon 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III EF Lens for my Canon Rebel XT.
First question. I am assuming the f/4-5.6 is the largest aperture
setting I can use with the lens. 4 at 75mm and 5.6 at 300mm? Is this
assumption correct?

Second, I was at my daughters cheerleading gym trying to take some
"sports" pictures. I had thought that the gym lighting would have been
enough, but apparently not. Using shutter speeds between 1/300 and
1/500 to try to stop the motion,(with the above lens) I was getting
very under exposed images.

Through trial and error I will eventually find the right combination of
zoom, light, aperture and shutter speed. But is there a guide that
will give me a general idea of some of the settings one might use in
different situations?

Thanks

 

push the ISO

 

You beat me to the punch! I can take great shots in the New Orleans Arena
by increasing the iso on my Rebel

 

Having done this very thing myself for a gymnastics class, you are correct.

You'll get an idea through experience. You found out already that f/4 isn't
enough. Trying raising the ISO (you'll find that f/4 at 800 ISO in a gym is
still not quite enough, but almost), and reduce the shutter speed even more
(f/4 at 800ISO and 1/100 will just barely get you there in a gym. But best
is if your camera can do ISO 1600 without too much noise (such as the Canon
20D can). That will give you a lot more latitude. So, ideal camera
settings for a gym, based on my own experience: ISO 1600 and f/4 will give
you a shutter speed range of roughly 1/100 to 1/300 to work within.)

 

If you are able to use a flash it can help as a fill after you have pushed
up the ISO. If you are serious about doing Sports photos inside and are not
able to use flash you need to get 2.8 glass. Sigma makes a great lens that
is 70-200 f2.8 that is not very expensive but would be great for your
application.

here is an example what you can get using 2.8 lenses.
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/eagleeyephotographer/detail?.dir=/917b&.dnm=22fd.jpg&.src=ph

photo is Las Vegas Wranglers hockey game held at New Orleans Arena.

Camera.............Canon 20D
Lens..................Sigma 120-300mm f2.8
ISO...................800
aperture...........f2.8
shutter speed.....1/350

 

Thanks, the majority of the photos will be of my daughters and their
competition teams. So mostly for fun. I will be getting some other
lenses and a lens like the sigma will be on my list.

I have had several epiphanys over the last few days and will be taking
some more pictures at the gym on Thursday. I will post a few of them.